Ocala Mountain Bike Association

You have 4 weeks to ride it, then it is gone.
Despite being a model club and working our butts off to be be good stewards of the beautiful land we have ridden for years, Tallahassee has gifted the Florida Horse Park a fence.
We are being forced to re-route Spider Kingdom at the field crossing to the edge of a new drainage pond to get to the Turtle Tunnel at 475A. We have lost all trail through the tree lines, across the park, and everything south of the park.
As soon as I get a contact to criticize, I will post up.

As bad as this news is, please understand that this involves The Florida Horse Park, and not the majority of the horse community that you might see on the trail crossings. ALL regular Greenway users (Bikers, Hikers & Equestrians) got screwed on this deal. PLEASE continue to show courtesy when encountering other users on the trail. We need to continue to take the "high trail" if we wish to eventually prevail on this.

I don't really see how equestrian riders are getting screwed, it's a horse park, but anyway....

Does this mean the Landbridge Trailhead is going to be off limits to us? Which field crossing are you talking about; the planted pine field where you have to cross 475A to go into the trailhead? Are we going to able to access the trails west of the Landbridge without starting out at the 49th Ave trailhead?

Thanks!!

I think the trail riding equestrians might be getting fenced out of the HP except from the entrance? I've heard of them taking excess liberties with the park- this came from a horsey lady who's out there all the time, but I really don't know.

Can anyone post or link a an aerial view with new ROW drawn in or what ever to help me understand what happened? I'm spatially challenged.

Ok, I'll try to explain this, but it's always kinda difficult to accurately describe trails. The existing trail across the pine field to the Landbridge Trailhead will stay. If you are heading "out" towards land bridge from Santos, there are 2 other trails across that pine field that then enter some oaks, then you enter an open field (where the new tunnel is located), then you enter an oak section again before crossing the road heading towards the bridge. Essentially, we are losing both of those trails starting in the pine section, heading south, through the oaks, across the open field, then through the other oak section to where we cross the road. We will be forced to re-route our trails through the pines into one trail over by the east side of the road that we will have to share with non FHP equestrians, wagon equestrians and hikers, to access the tunnel to get to our trails on the west side of the road. I am attaching a map, but it may or may not help explain this. The red line is the new FHP boundary they have extorted from the citizens of Florida for free use, exclusive to them. We will still be able to access the landbridge, but we are losing over a mile of trail that we had in place before the FHP even existed. It's a bunch of bullshit.

To answer the question about equestrians...most equestrians who use the Greenway are not related to the Florida Horse Park, they're just folks who either live close, or who bring their horses to ride the Greenway. They will also be fenced out of the FHP leased area, and funneled down into this too small corridor they will have to share with us and other users. I could go on and on about how the FHP is a poorly managed group of wealthy horse folks who convinced legislators to give them this lease for free so they could run horse related events, but won't waste my time. If you have questions about this, shoot me a private message. In the meantime, if you see equestrians on the Greenway, please continue to give them the courtesy they deserve and obey the rules of the trail regarding yielding to equestrians. They are not the problem.

Thanks Robe2. I was afraid that's what you were describing. It is that wooded SW corner within the horse park boundary that is such a shame to lose...
Any chance of getting access to the pine section west of 475A after going through the tunnel/under the road ? That could cut the shared parts by about 1/3...

would anyone be able to overlay some landmarks like the land bridge trailhead on that map?
im coming from the opposite direction (49th street trail head) and am curious how I would make my way to Santos now.

If you come through the LBTH, you can just head out through the entrance, cross 475A and follow the yellow trail toward Santos (However, at the end east end of that little stand of pines, you will not be able to turn right and head south through that part of the Barnes Section and the FHP)

If you are on the southern trails in the LB section, going east and would have crossed 475A south of LBTH .... that will take you through the trails in question that currently go through the FHP. OMBA is in the process of rerouting these using the tunnel (under 475A) and the area that we will still have access to. I do not know the exact status of this rerouting .... but do know someone who does and will ask them to post on it.

I know it is a bit confusing ..... but once OMBA has everything rerouted & remarked (which will be soon so as not to interfere with the up coming "Ride Of The Living Dead") it will once again be clear and easy to follow.

Have no fear fellow riders, OMBA will make sure no one gets lost or comes to a dead end
I have dragged the trails west of the 475A tunnel (LandBridge section) that will become our primary trails once we lose the SW corner to the fencing.
I have scoped the northern field crossings (Barns section) and will tweak them once the survey is done for the fence.
The middle third at the NW corner of the Park is going to be trickier because equestrians have already rerouted their trail through the wonderful 50 foot buffer. We will stay to the north of them to minimize conflict, but will work with them and OGT to finalize that plan.
I'M ON IT!

Tks .... NaytoTheNay

Any updates on the rerouting?

I was out there today and see the beginnings of reroutes but it is kinda sketchy.
Anyone done a GPS tracing of the official new routes?
Would spreading rye grass or millet( cheap stuff) to stabilize/compact some areas be illegal act of bio terrorism?

There are pin flags to guide you through. The fence de/construction is not complete, so no GPS yet.
Actually, it IS against the law/policy to introduce outside "species" to the Greenway...
Feb. workday will focus on compacting the eastern/newest field crossings.
Dance for rain! Keep the ponies off!
Thank you for your patience!

I so had no idea of This .... We were out there today (Sat Feb 4) and rode out to the LB trail head via the Northern most trail that crosses 475a right at the entrance of the Trail head. For whatever reason, we decided to turn back at 475a ... and so we headed South on the Hwy and picked up the other "section" of the trail south of the tunnel bridge.

Yikes ... there were no signs there ... no New Fence yet on the South boarder of the Horse Park ... nothing to indicate a closed trail. We Crossed the field and found the new fence on the on the North Boarder. Bummer.

Sorry to pass thru there. Had no idea. Thought someone might want to know about the unmarked access off 475a as this might pose problems for others too in the near future. And I want to be a good steward of the trail network and it's multi use.

mrm1 ..... all of this continues to be a work in progress.

- The trails in the Barnes section, north of Fla Horse Park (FHP) & east of 475A are rerouted & marked. NOTE: abandoned trails in this area have been intentionally scarred and blocked PLEASE DO NOT RIDE THEM.

- The trails through the 475A underpass (tunnel) and those on the west side of 475A (Landbridge Section) are still being finalized, rerouted and marked. This is mostly due to late changes in the new fencing locations (and several changes) for/by FHP and final new horse trails in these area's for the equestrian community.

Please be assured that OMBA will make every possible effort to have everything completed prior to the up coming Fat Tire Festival.